Is it kosher to shake the secondary?

[Sutpen]

I've poked around the forums and a couple of books, and haven't seen any direct mention of shaking a secondary fermenter. I shook up the primary for 10 or 15 minutes after pitching the yeast, and I just racked to the secondary after about a week. I had kind of a weird fermentation, so I'm just wondering if a little more aeration might jumpstart the yeast. I tasted a little bit of the beer a couple days ago and it was pretty damn good, but this being my first batch, I couldn't draw too many conclusions about what I was tasting, beyond "I wish this were colder, and had bubbles in it." Thoughts?

PS
I didn't get any fermentation activity for the last 2 or 3 days of the time the beer spent in the primary. I don't have a hydrometer (I'm going to get one) so I was just going to stick the beer in the secondary for another week and then bottle condition the stuff for another 2-3. I could use a thumbs-up or thumbs-down on this course of action. Thanks, all.

 

[c.n.budz]

You do not want to aerate after fermentation starts. You'll only oxidize your beer, and that would be bad.

 

[talleymonster]

I wouldn't reccomend it. Like CNBUDZ said, it would aerate your brew...no good.


But if it is in primary, that's diffrerent. There was a thread earlier today about shaking the primary.

 

[Sutpen]

Alright, I figured it wasn't a good idea. Thanks for confirming my fears, haha. I guess I shouldn't be complaining-- shaking the primary while it was full of wort was certainly the sweatiest part of the brewing process so far.

 

[homebrewer_99]

First off...you shouldn't rack to a secondary if the brew is not done. Make sure your gravity reading has dropped approx 75% from the OG...then it's ready to rack.

Second, a secondary is really a clarifying tank.

Like the others said...aerating after pitching yeast (could/may) = oxidation.

 

[Sutpen]

Yeah, I really wish I'd had a hydrometer for this batch. Even without one, I'm fairly certain I wouldn't have gotten any more fermentation-- nary a bubble for 3 days or so. I had heard of people who got a little more action after racking, and that set me thinking "hmm...could I try to give the yeast a little kick in the pants here to ensure I got everything out of them, since I can't measure it?" The answer is clearly no, haha. I tasted a little bit, though, and it's quite good, so I'll probably bottle it this weekend.

 

[malkore]

the bubbles in secondary are usually trapped CO2 just coming out of solution...not actual fermentation.

with enough experience, you won't 'need' a hydrometer to know when its ready to rack. however, you wouldn't know the OG or FG...and thus no ABV would be known.
I consider it a necessity.

You can build a house without a tape measure...but why go through the hassle?
to make sure you calibrate your hydrometer with 60F tap water. (assuming that's what it was calibrated at by the factory)